Fault lines are developing within the Dutch squad over the alleged racist jeering at their open training session in Krakow this week. Mark van Bommel, the captain, initially reported it in the strongest terms, yet was not backed by his association, who declined to make an official complaint. Now in Kharkiv, ahead of Holland's opening game against Denmark, the head coach Bert van Marwijk said he could not be sure he heard anything racist at all, while sitting next to him Van Bommel stuck to his guns and said the whole team found the incident unpleasant.

"I didn't hear anything that was racist in nature," Van Marwijk said. "I heard a few things, there was noise of some sort, but I'm not sure I heard anything racist. It's true that I am trying to be as nice as possible, in a new country on the eve of a tournament, but I don't wish to make any further comment on the matter because as I said, I didn't hear it."

The Dutch FA will not to lodge a complaint to Uefa, and if Van Bommel was disappointed that they did not take his allegations more seriously then he failed to say so, though he did not back down either. "It happened exactly as you said," he replied, to a question about whether the black players in the squad had been subjected to racially motivated abuse. "The whole group heard it. The easiest thing at the time was to move to the opposite end of the pitch but it was not pleasant. We were all happy to get out of there."

Captain and coach have now become enmeshed in a difficult situation which they seem to be trying to play down rather than escalate. Uefa, meanwhile, said it had "no plans" to launch an investigation into the incident, although it did confirm it had "been made aware that there were some isolated incidents of racist chanting." The governing body said it was satisfied by claims the abusive chanting from the stands was actually a protest against the fact Krakow had not been made one of the host cities for Euro 2012.

A measure of how uncomfortable Van Marwijk, right, was with questions about events in Krakow, which effectively curtailed the press conference before Denmark got much of a mention, was that he was eager to respond to his Danish counterpart Morten Olsen's suggestion that the Dutch were an arrogant footballing nation.

"That's quite an old one," Van Marwijk said. "Although it's perfectly true that we did use that word a few years ago. It's more about self-belief really, you need to have that sort of confidence in yourself if you are going to win things, but you have to have the ability to back it up. It must not be misplaced, otherwise you are going to look silly."

Holland and Denmark played each other in the opening game of the last World Cup at Soccer City in Johannesburg. The Dutch won 2-0 and went all the way to the final. Van Marwijk has not drastically altered his side in the meantime, despite having injury problems all across the back line. Jorios Mathijsen has been ruled out, so either Wilfred Bouma or Ron Vlaar will have to come in to partner John Heitinga. Bouma may also be needed at right-back, but left-back is the position of most uncertainty.

Van Marwijk is thought likely to go with Eindhoven's young and inexperienced Jetro Willems, though he has refused to confirm or deny this despite being asked on countless occasions. His other options include Gregory van der Wiel, or the ubiquitous Bouma, who have both operated at left back in warm-up matches. "We are very familiar with the Danes as opponents," Van Marwijk said. "We play in the same way and we don't have any secrets from each other. We have a lot of respect for each other too, and I am sure the game will be played in the right spirit."

It probably will be, since far from bearing any grudges, Olsen conceded that his accusation of arrogance was intended as a compliment. "I'm not trying to wind anyone up, I don't think we can bluff the Dutch," the Denmark coach said. "They are arrogant in a good way, they believe in themselves, and there's nothing wrong with that. To be perfectly honest I think we are a little bit jealous of the Dutch. They are the favourites, after all, and we would love to be in their shoes.

"I think it is about time we met someone else in the opening game, it is hard to keep coming up against the same strong opponents first time out. I think the Dutch are probably better now than they were two years ago, andhopefully so are we. But we clearly go into the game as underdogs, there's no doubt about that.

"I have heard it said that the Dutch will regard it as an enormous disappointment if they do not win this title. I don't think we are in a position to say anything like that."